


step into the light

by georgiehensley



Category: Stargirl (TV 2020)
Genre: F/M, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Introspection, Multi, Optimism, Polyamory, Starting Over, Team Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:35:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24850924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/georgiehensley/pseuds/georgiehensley
Summary: Rick doesn't understand love.Or, the one where Rick's outlook on life and love begins to change once he joins the JSA.
Relationships: Yolanda Montez/Courtney Whitmore/Beth Chapel/Rick Tyler
Comments: 5
Kudos: 72





	step into the light

**Author's Note:**

> nobody:
> 
> me: what if......... the new jsa........ were poly?
> 
> yeah, i am Really into this show, if you couldn't tell, and ep 5 especially drew me in to rick's story, so i thought i'd explore that a little through fic. that is, how his past has shaped his present and how he might change after joining the jsa.
> 
> with bonus implied poly bc i love when the troubled, moody characters go soft for the sunshiney characters.

Rick doesn't understand love. 

He did, once. Back when he was a kid, when his parents were still alive, when the three of them were together and happy.

Since their death, love has lost all meaning for Rick. Before, love meant positivity, joy, and light; now, all it means is pain, sadness, loneliness, and anger. 

Rick hates love.

But then--

Then he finds himself less lonely, thrust into a team with three girls, one of whom only arrived in town a month ago, and suddenly began to change everything.

Before Courtney arrived, Rick only knew darkness and sorrow. But Courtney… Courtney's like sunshine personified, her smile shining a beam of warm light straight into Rick's cold, dark heart. She gives him hope.

And then Yolanda. She's quiet, like him. She knows pain, anger, and shame. And yet she manages to hold her head high, thanks to Courtney. She's like the moon, orbiting around Courtney, the sun, shining whenever she finds herself reflecting Courtney's light. Sometimes she shines without even realizing it.

Beth is the oddball. She's never experienced pain like the other members of the group have. She's always chatty, energetic, and joyful. She's like the stars, always there, shining brightly, even when you can't see them.

Compared to them, Rick is like an asteroid, solid and fiery. He rushes into things, attacking everything in sight.

But around the girls--

Around them, he cracks. His anger dissipates, his frowns fade, his tears dry. Around them, he becomes himself again, the boy he was all those years ago, before his parents left him.

Rick hates love. He hates the love he has for his parents, the love that hurts him so deeply.

But now, with the girls by his side, he thinks he's willing to relearn love, rewrite the definition he's drilled so deeply into his head.

Because love doesn't have to be pain, sadness, loneliness, and anger. It can be positivity, joy, and light.

And that's exactly how Rick feels whenever he's around Courtney, Yolanda, and Beth.


End file.
